


The Wonderful Thing About Tigger

by lilac_one



Category: B.A.P, K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 11:16:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14976017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilac_one/pseuds/lilac_one
Summary: Himchan is running so late for his blind date. It's not his fault, but Youngjae is going to kill him.





	The Wonderful Thing About Tigger

**Author's Note:**

> Happiest of happy birthdays to almostblue!! Thank you for bringing these ridiculous boys into my life!
> 
> And thank you to kristiinthedark for coming through with the beta.

Himchan is running way, way late for his blind date. 

He gets stuck at work for an extra 30 minutes because the guy on shift after him fell asleep after his morning final, slept through his alarm, and didn’t wake up until after he was supposed to relieve Himchan. Those thirty minutes mean instead of beating rush hour, his normal 20 minute commute home takes 40, putting him over an hour behind schedule by the time he walks in the door. The house is empty, Youngjae already off to his bartending job, and Jungup not yet home from the dance studio.

There’s no way he’s meeting someone for the first time reeking of coffee, and though his shower is positively warp speed, when he goes to dress in the outfit he’d set out before he left that morning, he discovers a noticeable stain on the shirt and it takes him far too long to decide on a different one. 

He’s starting to think it’s one sign too many and that he should just cancel, but Youngjae doesn’t believe the universe works that way and Himchan’s pretty sure the lecture he’d have to sit through from him, and the disapproving glares that would last for who know how long, would be worse than any blind date could possibly be. Youngjae is usually a pretty great roommate, but only if you stay on his good side. 

So in spite of his misgivings, Himchan runs some gel and a comb through his hair, forgoes his usual first date makeup, and grabs his wallet and phone. But his keys aren’t in the key bowl on the table by the door.

They’re not still in the door (that happened _once_ okay, but he really, really had to pee), and they’re not in the jacket he wore to work, either. He spends five minutes retracing his steps and turning out all pockets of the clothes was wearing earlier before he finally finds them in the bottom of his laundry basket. He doesn’t know if they fell out of his pants pocket or if he accidentally threw them in there with his clothes when he stripped for his shower, but he doesn’t care. At this point he has ten minutes to make it to Youngjae’s bar where he’s meeting the guy. If he drives instead of walks, he should only be a few minutes late. He can text Youngjae at red light to let him know he’s on his way. 

With a last glance in the hallway mirror to undo the damage the key search did to his hair, he finally makes it outside. He locks the door behind him and turns to sprint to his car when he finds himself tripping over something soft and yelpy, and falling head first into the bushes lining their front walk.

“Owwwwww,” he says softly into the dirt, taking stock of himself. The bushes mostly cushioned his fall, so nothing feels broken, but his cheek is stinging and so are both hands and his knee. There’s something gently nudging his ankle and awkwardly, carefully, he gets himself to his feet. It’s a small curly-haired brown dog who’s moved on to sniffing his shoes. 

“Where did you come from, little one?” Himchan asks softly. He squats down to pat it, and realizes both palms are scratched up, his pants are ripped in one knee, and the skin beneath is scraped and oozing. He stands up again and scans both sides of the street in both directions, but except for a car just turning into the driveway a couple of houses down, the street is empty. 

“Where’s your family, puppy? Do you have a collar?” asks Himchan, gingerly scooping up the dog in one arm and collecting his keys with the other hand from where they’d landed when he fell. 

He gets the door unlocked, this time purposefully dumping his keys into the key bowl after he shuts the door behind him. The dog is squirming a little, and manages to get its front paws on Himchan’s shoulder and lick a stripe up his cheek.

“Gross,” Himchan laughs, giving the pup a little scritch between its ears. It is wearing a collar, and with a little maneuvering, Himchan gets it turned so he can reach the tags. The first is a rabies vaccination tag, the second a little blue bone with TIGGER on one side and a phone number on the other. 

“Nice to meet you, Tigger. I hope you’re either housebroken or already had time to do your business outside, because I need to get cleaned up and call your family. I’m sure they’re worried about you.” Himchan sets the dog down with a final pat, and he immediately sets out to explore his surroundings. 

Himchan pulls his phone out of his pocket as he goes into the kitchen to get the first aid kit so he can text Youngjae because there’s no way he’s getting to the bar anytime soon, and sees a notification from him already there.

**_best roomie :)))_ ** _  
ur on ur way already but ur date had a family emergency n had to go drinks on me._

Himchan sighs in relief. With no need to rush, he can clean himself up and figure out how to get Tigger back to his home.

**_Himchan_** __  
_Stop changing your name in my phone._  
_Drinks were on you anyway, for me agreeing to this in the first place.  
Did the “family emergency” happen before or after you showed him my picture?_

__

__

_**Annoying One**  
u no ur the prettiest princess himchannie he rly did get a call frm his roomie abt smthg at home he apologized 80 billion times n wants to try agn soon_

_**Himchan**  
Whatever. I’m going to take care of some things. I’ll see you later to get my drinks._

____

____

Leaving his phone on the counter, he pulls the first aid kit out of the cabinet and goes into the bathroom to wash off. Once the dirt is gone, he can see the abrasions are all minor and only needs a bandaid on his knee.

When he opens the bathroom door, Tigger is sitting outside waiting for him. He follows Himchan back to his room where he pulls on his favorite jeans and swaps his button down for a loose long-sleeve black t-shirt. He inspects his torn pants and decides they’re toast, so he slips his wallet out the pocket and takes them into the kitchen to throw them out, Tigger at his heels.

He grabs his phone off the counter and settles on the couch in living room. When he pats his leg, the dog jumps right up, circles his lap twice, and curls up with his head on Himchan’s stomach. Himchan laughs, twists his collar so he can read the number on his ID tag, and dials. He pets Tigger while he waits for the call to connect.

It rings several times before he’s greeted by the mechanical voice informing him that he’s reached the number he dialed and instructing him to leave a message after the tone.

“Hi,” he says, “I have your dog. Wait, that sounded really ominous. I mean, I found him. On my doorstep. And there wasn’t anyone around, so I brought him inside so he wouldn’t get lost again. So you know, he’s safe. He’s just cuddled up in my lap. His ears are so soft. But you know that.”

Himchan mentally smacks himself upside the head for being a babbling idiot, quickly leaves his name and number, and disconnects.

“I’m such a moron, Tigger.” Tigger climbs up his chest to lick his chin. “At least you love me. Because you’re a dog and I’m giving you attention.” Tigger licks his chin again and then rolls on his back so Himchan can give him belly rubs.

Himchan turns on the tv. It’s tuned to a cooking show, so he relaxes back to watch and snuggle with the dog. A minute later his phone rings, the number on Tigger’s collar flashing on the screen.

“Hello?” he answers.

“Hi, do you still have my dog?” asks a deep voice sounding just the slightest bit panicked.

Himchan can’t help but let out a little laugh. “Yes, he hasn’t gone anywhere in the three minutes since I called.” 

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just that we moved to a new place last week, and my ” he raises his voice pointedly, “careless roommate-” 

“It was an accident” Himchan hears faintly in the background.

“left the backdoor open a little while ago,” continues the guy, “and Tigger got out. And I don’t think we’ve been in the new place long enough for him to find his way home. So I was really worried.”

“He’s just fine. Made himself right at home. We’re watching a cooking show and we’re good. So you can come get him whenever.” Himchan rattles off his address and is met with a laugh.

“We’ll be there in about 30 seconds. We literally live a couple of houses down from you.” 

Himchan laughs too, picks up Tigger, and walks to open the front door, disconnecting the call as he goes and sliding his phone into his pocket. He moves on to the doorstep and sees two men coming down the walk of the house where he saw the car pulling in earlier. One has a leash dangling from his hand. 

“You ready to go home, Tigger? Will you come visit again? You’re such a sweet boy,” he baby talks, holding the dog up to his face for kisses as the two men approach. 

“Hi, I’m Yongguk,” says the shorter of the two, and his voice matches the one on the phone. He’s in fitted jeans and a black leather jacket over a white v neck t-shirt that reveals a tattoo spread across his chest and has a mess of curly dark hair. He has a huge grin on his face and damn, he’s hot. Himchan restarts his brain just in time to register him saying, “Thank you for keeping Tigger safe.” 

“I’m Himchan. No problem and welcome to the neighborhood.” He gives Tigger a final kiss on the head and hands him back to Yongguk, who snaps his leash onto his collar and set him down. 

“This idiot who let my baby escape is Junhong,” Yongguk says, smacking him on the shoulder.

Junhong smiles ruefully. “And I’m going to be paying for it forever, even though Tigger barely went anywhere and was perfectly safe the whole time.”

Yongguk smacks him again. “But we didn’t know that at the time. And you screwed up my evening.” He turns back to Himchan. “I hope we didn’t mess up yours, keeping you here.”

“Naw. I mean, I had plans, but everything was going wrong long before I found Tigger. I was already running late when I tripped over him on my way out, and then my date cancelled due to a family emergency when I was inside getting cleaned up, so actually, Tigger totally saved me a wasted trip.” 

Yongguk groans. “You fell over him? I’m so sorry. I hope you didn’t get too messed up,” 

“Just a couple of scrapes and a hole in a pair of pants that were at the end of their life anyway. So don’t worry about it.” Himchan reassures him. “After getting stuck at work which lead to getting stuck in rush hour traffic, having a minor fashion mishap, misplacing my keys, and falling over Tigger, I’m pretty sure the universe was trying to get me to miss this date anyway.” 

“Wait a second,” Junhong interrupts. “Were you by any chance supposed to meet your date at Kim’s?”

Himchan narrows his eyes at him. “How did you know that?”

“Youngjae’s your roommate, right?”

Himchan nods. “One of them, yes. How do you know him?”

Junhong continues, “He stopped by to introduce himself when we were moving in and he said he lived a couple of doors down from us. He’s the one who set up Yongguk’s date for tonight, the one he had to rush out of due to a family emergency. Which was losing Tigger.”

“So maybe the universe was telling us that we should meet someplace else instead,” Yongguk says. 

Himchan smiles at him. “Maybe.”

Yongguk smiles back. “So let’s take Tigger for his walk and get to know each other?” 

“Sounds good,” says Himchan. “And then if you’re up for it, we can walk back over to Kim’s. We can pretend we don’t know each other and get Youngjae to buy us drinks and try to set us up.”

Yongguk and Junhong both laugh. “I think I’m going to like you, Himchan,” Junhong says. “And now I’m going to head back. Enjoy your walk.”

“Thanks. See you around.” Himchan replies.

“Bye,” Yongguk says.

Himchan goes back to his door. “Let me get my keys and we can go,” he says, reaching into to grab them and then closing and locking the door. 

“Lead the way,” he says, following Yongguk and Tigger back down the path to the sidewalk. 

It isn’t at all the way he expected his evening to go, and Himchan will never hear the end of it from Youngjae if things work out with Yongguk, but for now, he’s content to see what else the universe has in store for the two of them.


End file.
